HISTORICAL SKETCHES Concerning that Portion of Ohio Embraced. within the Present Limits of RICHLAND AND ASHLAND COOTIES THE PIONEERS. "The pioneer was a rugged seer As he crossed the western river Where the red man called the Indian Lay hid with his bow and quiver." AMERICA is the only country of the earth that has produced pioneers. European countries were peopled by men moving in large bodies from one place to another. Whole tribes would move en masse and overrun, absorb or extinguish the original inhabitants of a country, dispossess them and occupy their territory. But in America we had the gradual approach of civilization and the gradual recession of barbarism. The white man did not come in columns and platoons, but came singly as pioneers. When civilization crossed the crest of the Alleghanies, Ohio was looked upon as the garden of the west, and soon various settlements were made in the territory now known as the state of Ohio. Casuists claim that the deer was made for the thicket, the thicket was made for the deer, and that both were made for the hunter ; and in further correlations state that the soil was not only intended for those who would cultivate it, but that, if the valley produces corn and the hillside grapes, people suited to the cultivation of such products take possession of these localities on the theory of the eternal fitness of things. The first white man "to set his foot" on the land now embraced in Richland county, Ohio, was James Smith, a young man who was captured by the Indians near Bedford, Pennsylvania, a short time before the defeat of General 10 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Braddock. He was adopted by the Indians into one of their tribes and finally accompanied his adopted brother, Tontileango, to the shore of Lake Erie, passing through a part of what is now Richland county. Next came Major Rogers, who, with his rangers, passed through here in November, 1760, en-route to Detroit. The next white people to see this county were Moravian missionaries, who, with their converts, passed this way when they were being removed from the Muskingum country to that of the Sandusky. In June, 1782, Colonel Crawford with his army made a halt "by a fine spring near where the city of Mansfield now stands," while on their ill fated expedition to the Sandusky country. Following Crawford's campaign, the next white man in this part of the state was Thomas Green, a renegade, who was the founder of Greentown, in 1782. The successful campaign of "Mad Anthony" Wayne in 1794 and the peace treaty of Greenville in 1795 secured comparative safety on the frontiers, and immigration began. The surveys of the public lands, which had been practically stopped, were resumed and extended to the northwest. Surveyors tried to keep in advance of the settlers, and land offices were established for the sale of land in several places. There was not a settler here when the survey of Richland was begun by General Hedges in 1806. On the 16th of January, 1808, a bill passed the Ohio legislature creating the counties of Knox, Licking and Richland, with a provision placing Richland under the jurisdiction of Knox county, as it had been before under Fairfield, "until the legislature may think proper to organize the same ;" and on June 9, 1809, the commissioners of Knox county declared "the entire county of Richland a separate township, which shall be called and known by the name of Madison." At an election in 1809 but seventeen votes were cast in the entire township (county), showing that but few settlers were here at that time. Richland remained under the jurisdiction of Knox until 1813. Thomas Green lived at the Indian town of Greentown several years, but he was not a settler. Other renegade white men may also have lived there temporarily. But the first bona-fide settler in Richland county was Jacob Newman, who came here in the spring of 1807. General James Hedges, a Virginian by birth, was here prior to that date, but he was in the employ of the government as a surveyor and did not become a resident until some years afterward. Jacob Newman was originally from Pennsylvania, but had been living CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 11 at Canton prior to coming to Richland. He was a kinsman of General Hedges and came here evidently with the view of locating and laying out the county-seat for the new county. The site first selected was about two and a half miles southeast of Mansfield, at what is known in history as Beam's Mills, where Newman had preempted three quarter-sections of land. The site of the first cabin is southwest of the mill, east of the Rocky Fork, and about three hundred feet west of the Mansfield-Lucas road. A few rods west of where the cabin stood is the spring frequently referred to in the history of the county, whose waters came forth from beneath a beech tree, at the foot of the little bluff. The spring is now filled up, a little marsh having formed below. The land belongs to the mill property now owned by Mr. Amsbaugh. The first cabin was made of round logs, was "chinked and daubed," and had a fire-place that occupied nearly all of one end, with a chimney outside made of sticks and mortar. There was but one room, With a "loft" above. Greased paper was used in the window instead of glass and the door was made of puncheons. After two years a new cabin was built, larger than the old one and about eight feet from it, the space between being roofed like a porch. While the first cabin had only an earth floor, a sawmill had been put up in the meantime and the new building had a floor of sawed boards. Then, too, it was a hewed-log house, with glass in the windows and an iron crane took the place of the, old lug-pole, all of which was considered quite aristocratic in those days. Michael Newman, a brother of Jacob Newman, came with his family and was the first addition to the new settlement. A Mr. Fountain came next, and the third was Captain James Cunningham. Captain Cunningham; who was an Irishman by descent and a Marylander by birth, came to Richland from Licking county, but lived only at the .Newman settlement a comparatively short time until he moved into the first cabin built in Mansfield (commonly called the Martin cabin) to board General Mansfield and party while the survey of the prospective county-seat was being made. After "keeping tavern" here for some time he moved to the Black Fork, near Greentown. After the close of the war he removed to the Clear Fork valley, near St. John's, where he taught school several years, and then bought a farm, part of section 8, in Worthington township, where he lived the remainder of his life. He died in 1870, aged nearly ninety years. Captain Cunningham commanded a company in Colonel Kratzer's regiment in the war of 1812, and the command was encamped on Alum creek in Delaware county when the news of Hull's surrender was received, which 12 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. threw the army into a frenzy of excitement. Colonel Kratzer wanted to communicate with Colonel Root, who was farther west, and to reach him the messenger would have to ford the river, then swollen beyond its banks, with drift floating upon its swift current. The colonel considered the mission too perilous to make a detail and asked for a volunteer to carry the dispatch. Captain Cunningham responded, and taking the message plunged his horse into the raging torrent, which the noble steed swam bravely through and landed the gallant captain safely upon the opposite bank and the cheers he then heard from his comrades-in-arms must have been gratifying to his military pride. After a ride of nine miles through the wilderness, the captain delivered the dispatch to Colonel Root and then returned to his own command. For his gallant service upon this occasion, Captain Cunningham was corn-mended in general orders. The late Dr. Bushnell informed the writer that at county musters the head of the battalion was given to Captain Cunningham on account of his fine military bearing and the excellent discipline of his troops. Prior to the war, Captain Cunningham was the constable of "Madison township," when Richland was vet under the jurisdiction of Knox, which was equivalent to being the first sheriff of Richland county. Captain Cun ningham took in situations intuitively and was prompt and intrepid in action. He was the son of an Irishman who served in the Revolutionary war and helped to consecrate the battle-field of Brandywine with his blood. While our German citizens are no less brave and might more tenaciously hold a fort or endure a siege, the Irish have that dash and daring which wins applause, and their, bravery is equaled only by their chivalry. Moore, the great Irish poet, paid a deserved tribute to the honor of Erin's sons in his ballad, which is as immortal as it is beautiful : "Rich and rare were the gems she wore. And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore: But Oh ! her beauty was far beyond Her sparkling gems or snow-white wand. " 'Lady, (lost thou not fear to stray. So lone and lo.vely through this bleak way? Are Erin's sons so good or so cold As not to be tempted by women or gold ?' " 'Sir Knight. I feel not the least alarm, No son of Erin will offer me harm For though they love woman and golden store, Sir Knight, they love honor and virtue more!' CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 13 "On she went, and her maiden smile, In safety lighted her 'round the isle; And blest forever is she who relied Upon Erin's honor and Erin's pride." The first settlement on the Black Fork was made by Abraham Baughman near Greentown, but the date is not definitely known. Dr. Hill, in his history of Ashland county, says it was possibly as early as 1807. In a paper written by the late Hon. John Coulter in 1858 and published some years since in the Loudonville Advocate, Mr. Coulter said : "I came to Green township in 1810, in company with my father, Thomas Coulter, and Jonathan Palmer, Joseph Gladden, Otho Simmons, Melzar Tannahill and George Crawford. We landed at Abraham Baughman's about the 25th of August. He had settled there the year before and was the only white man on the Black Fork from one end to the other. We were all from Pennsylvania. Mr. Baughman and myself felled the first tree on my quarter-section, for bees, in August, 181o." Therefore, according to this statement, Abraham Baughman was the only white man living on the Black Fork "from one end to the other" when the Coulter party arrived in 1810. The settlement was in Green township, Ashland county, then a part of Richland. Abraham Baughman married Mary Katherine Deeds, and removed from Cumberland to Washington county, Pennsylvania, and then to Richland county, this state. His brother, George, also came to Ohio and located at what is now Gahanna, in Franklin county. Abraham Baughman and wife were the parents of eight children,—five sons and three daughters. When they came to the Black Fork their two younger children—Jacob and George—were single and lived with their parents. Jacob Baughman was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, February 19, 1792. While the family resided in western Pennsylvania Jacob, then in his early teens, had worked with an apple-mill maker. After the Baughman family had lived two or three years on the Black Fork and had their farm well cleared and improved, Jacob received an offer to return to Pennsylvania and finish his trade. Their postoffice was then at Wooster, fifteen miles east of which Jacob's brother John had settled and for whom a township was named. Money was then very scarce, and while they could grow what was needed for their sustenance, prices were so low that but little cash could be realized on the sale of farm products. and in fact there was but little, if any, market for them. A family council was held and it was decided that Jacob should "buy his time.''the two years he lacked of his majority,—accept the offer 14 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY and remit quarterly installments to his father, which would furnish him money with which to pay taxes, and so forth. With his clothing tied up in a bandana handkerchief, Jacob set off alone on foot on his long journey. His pathetic parting with his mother he often feelingly described. The war coming on, he returned to Ohio before his two years were completed. I give this narrative to show that Abraham Baughman must have located on the Black Fork at least as early as 1809. Mrs. Baughman died in August, 1820. and her husband the January following. On their gravestone in the Perrysville cemetery is the inscription, "Pioneers of 181o," as the exact date or year is not known. Mr. Coulter, in the paper referred to, also speaks of the cordial reception they received "at the hospitable home of Mr. Baughman." Hospitality was a prominent characteristic of the pioneers. The latch-string was always out in a literal as well as in a figurative sense. To fasten a door would have been considered an insult to society—a reflection on the honesty of the neighbors. CAPTAIN THOMAS ARMSTRONG. Captain Thomas Armstrong was a chief of the Turtle branch of the Delaware tribe. He was said to have been a white man who had been stolen when a mere child and was raised by the Delawares and adopted into their tribe. Other authorities say he was of mixed blood. He was the chief at Greentown and was aged when he was forced to leave the village. All the Indians, however, at Greentown were not Delawares. There were a few Mohegans, Mohawks, Mingoes, Senecas and Wyandots there also. CAPTAIN PIPE. Captain Pipe was a chief of the Wolf branch of the Delaware tribe and ruled at Mohican Johnstown, and never resided in Richland county. There was a Captain Pipe at Greentown who was supposed to be the son of the old chieftain. He was a young man and was described as small, straight and very affable. He later became a half-chief with Silas Armstrong on the reservation at Pipestown, six miles from Upper Sandusky, and died in the Indian Territory in 1839. Old Captain Pipe was a large man. He had the blandness and oily address of the cringing courtier, the malignity of the savage and the bloodthirsty ferocity of the skulking panther. With his own hand he painted Colonel Crawford black, and by his order he was burnt at the stake. While paint- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 15 ing the colonel the treacherous Pipe feigned friendship and joked about him making a good looking Indian, but the black paint belied his words, for it portended death. It has been stated that Captain Pipe refused to join with the British against the white settlers in 1812 ; but as he was a consummate dissembler the statement should be received in accordance with the character of the man. After Hull's surrender, Captain Pipe was never seen in this part of the state, and his fate is unknown. GREENTOWN AND THE WAR OF 1812. At the time of the advent of the white settlers here the village of Green-town contained from one hundred and fifty to two hundred Indian families who lived in pole cabins, and in the center of the town was a council-house built of logs. There were Mingoes there as well as Delawares, and some writers have confounded Greentown with the "Mingo Cabbins" spoken of by Major Rogers ; but Dr. Hill thought the "cabbins" referred to were on the Jerome Fork, near to the place where the Mingo village of "Mohican Johnstown" was afterward located. The Indians often hoisted sails to their canoes to glide them over the dark, quiet waters of the Black Fork. Along the banks the scenery in summer was said to be of tropical beauty. Verdant plants and beautiful flowers lined either side and the luxuriant foliage of the forest formed a background to the enhancing picture, in which light and shadow were artistically blended and the songs of the birds came melodiously upon the perfume-laden air, making the valley seem a veritable paradise to the early pioneer. Two branches of the Delaware tribe—the Wolf and the Turtle—were represented at Greentown. By the year 1810 a number of families had been added to the Black Fork settlement, among whom were Andrew Craig, James Cunningham, Henry McCart, Samuel Lewis, Frederick Zimmer and others. A remnant of the Mohican tribe of Indians from Connecticut settled at an early day on the western branch of the Muskingum river, and nearly all our streams have Indian names. Mohican was derived from Mohegan, and from that river we have the various "forks." The Indians yearly had a feast in their council-house or upon its campus, in celebration of some tribal rite or anniversary, to which the settlers were invited. The ceremonies were opened by singing, with a copper-kettle accompaniment. Speaking would then follow and after that was dancing. In these dances some of the braves attired themselves in the most grotesque manner, 16 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. in bear and deer skins and cowhides, having the hoofs and claws dangling about their legs, and upon their heads they wore the skulls and horns, making them look like animals. The braves and the squaws sometimes danced separately, according to their idea of decorum or the rules of the dance. After the dance refreshments were served, consisting of boiled venison and bear meat. Upon one occasion Captain Cunningham thought the meat was tainted and concealed his portion in his pocket, as it would have been considered a grave offense not to eat the food given to him. When the Indians were encampted temporarily at Mansfield, on their removal from Greentown to Piqua, a tragedy—incident of war—occurred that gave the stream that courses through the north part of the city from the west its name, Toby's run. A Wyandot Indian and his daughter, who had been visitors at Greentown, escaped, were followed by two soldiers, who overtook them a mile west of town, tomahawked the man, but let the daughter go to her own country, which, as "Johnny Appleseed" reported afterward, she reached in safety. The soldiers had had relatives murdered by the Indians, and the redskins could not reasonably expect mercy when they had shown none to the whites. The settlers maintained friendly relations with the Indians for some time, but when the war with Great Britain was impending it was noticed that both the Greentown and the Jeromeville Indians made frequent trips to Upper Sandusky, and when they returned were always well supplied with blankets, tomahawks and ammunition, evidently supplied to them by British agents, who were busily engaged in trying to ingratiate themselves into the favor of the red man and be thus able to enlist them afterward as allies against the whites. On the 18th of June, 1812, the United States declared war against Great Britain. and after that the estranged relation between the settlers and the savages developed into threatened rupture and resulted in the forced evacuation of Greentown, followed with the murder of the Zimmers and Copus. The reason generally assigned for the killing of Copus was that he had accompanied Captain Douglas to the Indian village and advised them to submit to a peaceful removal. It is also stated that the Indians had a grudge against the settlers up the valley because their horses ( which ran at large) had frequently come from that direction with fire-brands tied to their tails. The Indians also claimed that the whites made them drunk on metheglin and then cheated them in trades. Metheglin was made from wild honey, which was plentiful in those days. Metheglin was a favorite drink, was very intox- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 17 icating, and it is said that those who indulged in this delicious nectar could hear the bees buzzing for several days thereafter. When the pioneers wanted honey they hunted "bee trees," as bees then used cavities in trees as hives in which to store their "delicious sweets." The white settlers often joined the Indians in athletic sport on the campus of their village, in which the "run, hop, step and jump" and wrestling were the favorite amusements; but the Indians never took defeat graciously. "Oh, merrily passed the time, despite Our 'wily Indian foe, In the days when we were pioneers, Many years ago ! "Yet, while we live, we may all A backward glance still throw To the days when we were pioneers, Many years ago !" KILLING OF TOM LYONS. Among the prominent Indians at Greentown were Bill Montour, Bill Doudy, Jonacake and Tom Lyons. Several stories have been told of Lyons' death, locating the event in as many different localities. He came to Ohio soon after the Wyoming massacre, 1778, in which he took a part, and made his headquarters at Helltown and later at Greentown. He was removed in 1812 with the Greentown Indians to Piqua, and, like other Indians, came back to Richland county occasionally, after the close of the war, to hunt and to temporarily sojourn. Lyons was called Old Leather-lips by the settlers on account of his large, thick protruding lips, and was considered one of the ugliest human beings that ever lived. He was reticent about himself, except when under the influence of fire-water, when he would tell of the part he took in the Wyoming massacre, and of later having committed other murders, boasting that he had killed nearly a hundred white men, whose scalps he had tanned, and whose tongues he had pickled in alcohol. About 1829 Indians held a hunting-feast two miles below Bellville, on the north side of the Clear Fork, nearly opposite Gatton's Rocks, in Richland county. John Gatton, in company with a hired man named Joe Haynes, attended the feast, as "lookers on in Venice." Tom Lyons was there, drunk and loquacious. To generalize was not sufficient for him in his maudlin condition; he must particularize and state that lie had killed Isaac Mericles, a 18 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY relative of young Haynes, and that he lacked but one more scalp to complete, his hundred. About a year previously Isaac Mericles had been found foully murdered. and Lyons' admission of the crime so incensed young Haynes that he publicly vowed to avenge his relative's death. Air. Gatton cautioned Haynes that it was unsafe to make threats in the presence of the Indians against one of their number. and succeeded in getting the young man away. The Indians continued their carousal. A few days later Haynes took his rifle and went out to hunt, as was the custom. of the times, and when he returned in the evening he told Mr. Gatton that he had killed Tom Lyons at Leedy's swamp, and had buried him where he fell: that he had found Lyons at the edge of the swamp, taking aim with his rifle at an opening in the thicket, and, without being discovered, Haynes shot Lyons in the back of the head, thus avenging his uncle's death. Gatton was shocked, and advised Haynes to leave the country at once, as the Indians would soon learn of Lyons' death and that suspicion would be cast upon him on account of the threat he had made. Haynes then bade the family good-bye, stepped out into the darkness of the night and was never heard of afterward, the general opinion being that the Indians had made way with him the same night. The Gattons wisely kept their own counsel, and it was only within the past year that a daughter of John Gatton, now an aged lady, told the story, explaining the mysterious disappearance of Tom Lyons. Tom Lyons has been described as one of the ugliest human beings that ever lived. He had coarse features, elephant-like skin, an under-lip very thick and so long that it drooped over his chin. He frequently called at the homes of the settlers, and sometimes upon awakening at night they would see him sitting in front of the fireplace! He usually went to the cupboard and helped himself to a lunch ere he left. To lock a door or pull in a latchstring would have been an insult in pioneer times to both settlers and Indians. Lyons often got white women to bake bread for him, and he would weigh the flour he furnished, and then weigh the bread, and unless the weight of the bread was equal to that of the flour there was trouble. As a rule the women would add of their own flour rather than run the risk of the bread being light in weight. The hunting-feast at which Tom Lyons boasted of having killed ninety-nine white people was held on the bottoms, across the Clear Fork from Gat-ton's Rocks, where L. N. Loiselle built several cottages the past summer and where a number of Mansfield people take their summer outings. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 19 Lyons' Falls was not named for Tom Lyons, the Indian, but for Paul Lyons, a white man, a recluse, who lived there for many years. FIRST SETTLEMENT AGAIN. We return to the first settlement to note what progress had been made there. In the spring of 1809 the Newmans built a sawmill—the first in the county—near the place where the Amsbaugh gristmill now stands. It was a crude affair, but it could saw a few logs a day. and sawed boards were preferred to skutched puncheons. The number of families at the settlement increased and in 1810 a gristmill was built. It was equipped with "nigger-head" buhrs, and the flour made was not of the roller-process kind, but it may have been as healthful. It was better, however, to have a mill at home than to have to pack grists on horseback to the mills at Clinton, Knox county, as they had previously done. Then, too, things are considered good by comparison and in those days, so far as flour was concerned, the positive, comparative and superlative adjectives of "good, better, best" were unknown. The Newmans soon removed to Mansfield and while acting as a guide to General Crooks, in the winter of 1812, Jacob Newman contracted a disease from which he died. Michael Beam bought the Newman land where the first settlement was made, including- the mills, which he put in better equipment and operated for several years, and the place has passed into history as Beam's Mill. But adversity and misfortune often lurk in the pathway of the most industrious and worthy, as was the case with Mr. Beam. To accommodate a friend he became surety for a large bill of merchandise, which he had to pay and that took his all, and he never got a start again. Parties at Pittsburg got possession of the property and a Mr. Rogers was sent here to superintend the same. Rogers built a more pretentious dwelling than those of the other residents. This house was situated just east of Mr. Mentzer's residence, and the ground upon which it stood is now cultivated as a garden. There, a few years since, a stone mantel was dug up and is now used as a step-stone at Mentzer's back porch. It is, no doubt, the first dressed stone mantel made in the county. The scenery along the Rocky Fork, at different places below Beam's Mills, was said to have been quite picturesque in those days and is interesting still, especially where the stream makes a bend to the right, as it approaches the mound or knoll where the soldiers are buried who gave their lives for their 20 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. country while garrisoning the Beam block-house in 1812 and there the rippling waters sing a sweet requiem as they pass the unmarked graves. While I speak of the pioneers and their achievements, I mean not only the men of the two decades from 18o8 to 1828, but include the women, also, for they shared alike with the men the dangers and hardships of that period, and besides their household duties often assisted in the fields and at times helped to defend their homes against the attack of the Indians. It was not "lady" then, but that better word, "woman." Woman the wife, woman the sister, woman the mother of us all! And although clothed in homespun and her hands hardened with toil, she had nobility of soul, and her character was irreproachable and her courage did not falter at the approach of danger, and her deeds well deserve to be written in history, to be preserved in tradition and to be sung in songs. The pioneers are often spoken of as an unlettered people. A few of them were, perhaps, while others had scholastic attainments. All classes from the Atlantic states were represented. But there were no allurements to attract the worst element of society, as was the case in California in the early settlement of that state. The impelling force that brought people to Ohio to become pioneers was that restless spirit so peculiar to the American character, which even to-day causes some of the most intelligent and energetic to leave homes of refinement and comfort in the east to seek new homes in the west, or to go to the far-off Klondike in the wild rush for gold. Colonel Rush Field once told the writer of this first Sunday in Leadville during the milling excitement there. The familiar words of the Venite greeted them as they entered the improvised church. There was a quartette choir and the voice of the soprano gave evidence of training and cultivation ; and in the Te Deum the exquisite sweetness of her voice and its wonderful power and compass were more fully noticed. Upon inquiry afterward it was learned that she was the daughter of a Boston banker and that her education in music was the best that two continents could give, and that she had left her home of luxury in the east to share with her husband, a wealthy mine operator, the inconveniences of a Leadville camp, and to become a Colorado pioneer. The pioneer period was but the prelude to the fuller development of the county that followed. The settlers who cleared the land and founded homes and formulated the first laws, builded better than they knew, and as we look back at their work in the light of to-day award them the plaudit of "Well clone !" CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 21 Within four years after the first settlement in Richland county was made, war was declared against Great Britain, sometimes called the second war for independence. The question has been asked whether that war advanced or retarded the settlement of the county. We have read history to little purpose if we have not learned that the progress of civilization has been enhanced by wars. The fighting instincts of human nature have brought more 'important results than any other force. Homer, the earliest of the great poets, began his Iliad by invoking the muse to sing of martial exploits, and expressed his faith in war as a means of progress. The spirit then displayed was not materially different from that which the patriots of colonial times manifested, which culminated in the war of the American Revolution. The same impelling tendency was seen in the heroic events of the war of 1812 and in the war with Mexico in 1848, as well as in our recent civil strife. The records of the "dull, piping times of peace" do not show the advance of civilization as do the annals of war. A number of the first and most important roads in our county were cut out and opened by the troops of the tear of 1812, as they marched through or encamped within our borders, and grounds were cleared for drill purpose upon which the settlers the next season raised crops. The highways opened by the army were the avenues along which emigrant wagons came when the war was ended. Then, too, the soldiers upon their return to the east after their discharge from the service told such enticing- tales of the richness of our soil and the beauty of our landscapes that quite a tide of emigration set in, and many of the soldiers came also and made their homes here. But I am not writing the history of the war nor its aftermath,—only referring- to the same now and then in giving incidents in county history, and to say that the war of 1812 advanced the settlement of the county by driving away the Indians and by bringing the locality into notice. "Through the woodland, through the meadow, As in silence oft I walk, Softly whispering on the breezes. Seems to come the red men's talk." The second settlement within the present limits of Richland county was made at Bellville by James McCluer in 1809, and was known as the "McCluer settlement.'' James McCluer came to that locality in the fall of 1808, entered land and built a cabin, but spent the following winter in Pickaway county. The next spring he brought his family and made his abode in the cabin he had built the fall previous, making the date of the settlement 1809. 22 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. The first road in the county was known as the Wooster road, running from Wooster via Greentown to Mansfield, and the second road was from Mount Vernon via the McCluer settlement, and was called the state road. James McCluer was so favorably impressed with the Clear Fork country and gave such glowing description of the same that several relatives and others joined him the same season. Upon the organization of the county in 1813 James McCluer was appointed one of the associate judges of the court of common pleas and sold his land to Robert Bell, who, in 1815, laid out a town plat of forty-eight lots, and the town was named Bellville. Judge McCluer removed to Mansfield and lived in a cabin on the northwest corner of Main and Fourth streets, the present site of the Mansfield Savings Bank. The last years of Judge McCluer's life were passed at Leesville, where he died ripe in years and in honors. The McCluer cabin at Bellville stood on the lot now owned by David "Lent, south of the railroad and east of Main street and on the part of the lot he now cultivates as a garden. The block-house, built in September, 1812, stood near the present site of S. N. Ford's grain elevator. The first death in the township was that of Stephen Dodge, in 1811. He was buried on Snake Hill, now called Beulah cemetery. A postoffice at Bellville was established in 1824, with Isaac Hoy as postmaster. Private schools were taught by William Spears in 1815-'16-'17. The first public school in the township was taught by Timothy Evarts in 1818, and the schoolhouse stood on the old state road, a short distance north of Honey creek. Mrs. Oldfield, whose maiden name was Lucy Palmer, was my first teacher in the schoolhouse that was afterward built near this spot. She was an exemplary Christian lady and one of the best of educators. My first day at school seemed a long one, for I was homesick and wished for the closing hour to come that I might go home to my mother, and a similar wish is the theme of my longing to-day. John Leedy was one of the 1810 settlers, and his descendants live mostly in the southern part of the township. Mr. Leedy's (laughter Catherine married Samuel Garber, and of their children, Jehu is perhaps the most widely known, as he served two terms as county commissioner. Lewis K. Leedy came in 1811 and was the pioneer "singing master" of his time, and it seems but a few years since he attended our pioneer meetings and joined his marvelous gift of voice with those of Joseph Fleming, William Pollock, I. N. Thompson, John Schrack, Samuel Bell, Mrs. Yingling, CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 23 Mrs. Pulver, et al., in singing the old-time melodies of the "Missouri Harmony.” Mention should here be made of Governor Leedy and many, many others, but at present I must pass on to other matters. Jefferson township is six miles square, and therefore contains thirty-six sections of land. It was one of the original townships. Bellville is situated on section 9, a mile south of the north line of the township. The Clear Fork of the Mohican is the principal stream of water, and its north and south branches unite a mile west of Bellville, and after passing the town courses in a southeasterly direction, leaving the township about midway at its eastern border. There is scenery along the banks of the Clear Fork at several places that is beautiful in picturesqueness, and the pastoral charms of the landscape are enhancing, while the valley through which this clear stream flows is unexcelled in its fertility. There was a block-house at Bellville for the protection of the settlers, but no Indian outbreaks ever occurred there. While the savages frequently hunted game in that locality, they had no abiding place there and therefore the settlers were not troubled much with them: INDIAN CIVILIZATION. Since engaged in writing sketches I have been asked why the pioneers did not Christianize and civilize the savages. My purpose has been to state facts and not to elaborate theories. But, ere dismissing the red man for the time, will again state that there is an unwritten law that has come down to us from a period "beyond which the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," and that is the law that the weakest "goes to the wall," and, like the edicts of the Medes and the Persians, it is immutable, unchangeable. It is a science of historical physics that the lesser force yields to the greater. The Indians themselves acknowledged this rule of fate.. When Pocahontas went to England as the bride of Rolfe, her father, the great Powhatan, sent her brother-in-law, Tocomoco, with the party to count the people in England to enable him to estimate the relative strength of the white and the red men! Upon arriving in England, Tocomoco got a long stick and began to cut a notch for every man he met, but soon grew weary of the task and threw the stick away. When Tocomoco returned to America and reported to Powhatan, he told the Indian chieftain- to "count the stars in the sky, the leaves on the trees and the sands on the sea shore, for such is the number of the people in England." While Powhatan may, from the report of Tocomoco, 24 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. have seen the "handwriting on the wall," it is often difficult to apply theories to ourselves and to accept the inevitable. While a few Indians have been Christianized, they were but isolated cases,—the exceptions and not the rule. When Pocahontas became a convert to the Christian faith and knelt at the fount and received holy baptism from the hands of Bishop Whittaker, much good in the missionary line was expected to follow ; but the majority of the Indians are to-day, as they were then, heathens arid savages, notwithstanding the efforts and money expended to convert them. Although the Indians could not be civilized, many of them possessed ability. Take the great Pontiac, who was the chief of the mighty confederacy of the Ottawas, the Ojibwas and the Pottowattamies. The genius of this mighty chieftian had spread his fame and influence not only throughout what is now Michigan, which was geographically the center of his power, but over the greater part of the continent. His intellect was broad, powerful and farseeing. In him were combined the qualities of a leader, a statesman and a Warrior. A writer has said that the world is full of wasted genius ; that great minds can seize opportunities, but cannot create them. That Cromwell without the English revolution, Washington without the Revolutionary war and Grant without the Rebellion, would never have risen to fame. Pontiac was not only great, but had great opportunities. The account of his colossal conspiracy reads like a tale of fiction. His eloquence was irresistible and he could both plan and execute. He was a Napoleon in war and a Chase in finance. As a war measure he issued -notes drawn upon birch hark and signed with the figure of the otter, the totem to which he belonged. These notes were used as a circulating medium, as were our greenbacks during the war of the rebellion, and were faithfully. redeemed. With the advance of civilization from the east there was a recession of barbarism to the west until the red man was relegated toward the setting sun; but soon there will be no west and the Indian will disappear with his habitat. To the student of history the process through which a nation passes is an interesting study, and especially is this true in America, where civilization started at the • Atlantic seaboard and pressed onward across the continent until it reached the Golden Gate, verifying the oft repeated saving that "westward the star of empire takes its way." To study each passing period, with its distinctive features, in the growth and development of our country, has always been to the writer an alluring theme, not only on account of family interest in the narrative, particularly in Richland county, but also from a point of speculative philosophy as to the